Sleepy Laos....

Right where were we? After spending our first night in Laos we woke up early and boarded a slow boat along the Mekong river. The boat was a wooden one, quite basic, but had plenty of room for a few beers and endless amounts of card games! On route we stopped off at a local village for a quick tour, as soon as we pulled up and saw the sheer poverty our heart strings began to tug! The little children were all so sweet and some didnt even have clothes! So some of us were just rummaging through our stuff to see what we ould give them! I grabbed a pack of pringles which they grasped as if it were gold! A truelly fantastic experience was trying to teach them English words! After that we continued down the Mekong for another couple of hours until we reached a little village powered by generators, we stayed there for one night and had a curry that evening - which made Tod and I rather happy! After dinner we went to a local party to celebrate the growth of rice!! And some interesting dance was experienced here! We then swiftly made it bcak to the hostel before the 10.30pm curfue due the generators cutting off! The next morning we continued our journey down the Mekong with a prepared lunch on the boat, made by the wife of the captain! On route we stopped off at the Pak Aou caves ( a large cave filled with thousands of Buddas) the highlight of this was when our tour guide was trying describe what material the buddas were made out of, he kept saying "Semen , you know Semen" so we were all in histerics untill one of the girls on our tour said did you say "Semen", we then found out he actually meant "Cement".
Early evening we finally arrived in Luang Prabang with enough time to check in to our rooms ( Due to me putting my foot down Tod and I got a massive twin room as a pose to a small double! Result!) and have a shower ( a sheer luxury when you havent had hot water in days!) The good thing about this hotel is that it had 2 really good movie channels so Tod and I were in our element! That evening we had a gropu dinner and a wonder around the majestic night market!
The next morning we all did a 3 hour trek to the waterfalls, the heat was exhausting and there were bugs everywhere, however we hitthe jackpot when we reached the waterfall with a clear blue lagoon at the foot of the waterfall to swim in! people were also jumping off the waterfall into the lagoon so i thought i would takemy chance and give it a go!!! We also went to a bear rescue center. We then got a TUk Tuk ( laos taxi) back to the village to do what ever you want in your free time, of course Tod and I watched a film! That evening we all had a wonder around the night market and went were ever we wanted for dinner, followed by drinks at a luxury bar called Laos Laos garden. It was there we actually ended up going for dinner the following evening and Tod and I shared this massive BBQ thing!! As weel as buy one get one free cocktails! We hit the markets after dinner and there was a lot of bargin hunting going on, Tod was more successful than me as i was more stubbon and refused to pay the asking sum, so left me very jealous of Tod's Beer Laos T shirt ( Beer Laos deserves a paragraph of its own - the best beer you will ever drink!). The next morning before our flight to Vientiene there was an optional activity to watch the monks collect food, when tod and I found out it was at 6am we decided against it!
The Flight as expected was quick, bumpy, and in my opinion rather scary, although we did get complimentary water! When we got to Vientiene we checked into our hotel and then had an orientation walk around the town, followed by a beer Laos at sunset by the Mekong! Bliss! That evening we went to a restaurant recomended by our tour leader which was so yum, and also nica and spicey! Oddly though they were giving away free condoms! That evening Tod and I hosted card games in our room - so notoriously named ourselves the party room! The next day Tod and I did a wonder of the town then went to the national Laos museum, and being typical westerners had a pizza!! We tried going to the Beer Laos factory in the afternoon with Kate and Katie but once we got there they said it was closed! Dissapointment as we were craving a free Beer Laos! We later had another relaxing sunset Beer Laos, before going to a Martini bar to watch Slumdog millionaire! Bizzare as it was extremely good fun!
Thats all for now folks! Missing you all so much and do leave feedback on our blog or facebook!